Three of our Gray Hogs group left Redding and traveled up I-5, intended to meet up with our fourth member, Jerry, near Salem, Oregon. The Central Valley heat had already risen, and the mountains leading to Mt. Shasta brought a welcome coolness to the air. As we reached the Crags and saw Shasta’s glory revealed in the distance, not only these words occurred to me, but I found my soul changing…
Read MoreAsk Clearly
A few weeks back, I flushed our toilet and turned away, only to hear someone whistling at me. Sheila was nowhere in sight, no one else was in the house, and I sure didn’t whistle at myself. Not too loud, and I kind of like receiving whistles, then Sheila mentioned it. Then came some YouTube research on how to fix it, which worked! No whistle. I kind of missed it, but within a few days it returned, got louder, and Sheila again mentioned it.
On our next errands trek, I dropped her off at her nails salon and headed to Home Depot. In the toilet section, a young mother with a four-year-old boy in the cart (must have been a sale on boys that week) asked me…
Read MoreAn Ephemeral Life
Mike Scott, a friend from high school daze, took this pic of a New Mexico sunrise, which I came to love. Sunrises and sunsets blend beauty and brevity so well. Their glory changes almost by the second—I’ve often called Sheila to see one, and in the 20 seconds before she gets there it’s changed, or gone.
That’s life—as slow as it seems to go looking ahead…
Read MorePaying Attention Pays Off
Our local Total Wine store occasionally does educational and tasting events, and not long ago we celebrated our Happy Hour at their “Napa and More” event, where we learned a lot about wine in California, and particularly the Napa/Sonoma area. Our host Joseph said California has 600,000 acres in vineyards, and if we were a nation, we’d rank #4 in wine production. Each wine region has an AVA name; California has over half of our nation’s. These nuggets came as he gave small tastings of various Napa area wineries to go with the food they furnished. Then Joseph added a twist—a question that yielded several gifts to the first person who answered correctly. He even made it multiple choice! Already interested, I began to pay more attention in hopes of another trivia question. Then the next quiz came:…
Read MoreRisk Factors
Rich almost joined our first Penasco, NM mission trip in 1973, so when we discussed a 2025 ride, he suggested Colorado and New Mexico, with several days in Taos, and wanted to ride the 25-miles to Penasco to see what he’d missed. We met some friendly locals, got some old-time soda pops. I spotted the house we’d rented that year, and pulled off to the side and parked, intending to walk back to avoid two U turns in “downtown,” and Rich would wait.
After taking the pic, I turned and saw people standing around Rich. Turns out he wanted to get farther from the road, but the asphalt had a good 2” drop onto some loose ground and rocks. Rich and his Sportster took a tumble, two cars saw it and stopped. They helped…
Read MoreThe Man I Used to Be
After working much too hard and long recently, hopping in a long and hot shower to sluice off the sweat and ease aching muscles, and then having to lie down on our bed for over half an hour to recover, I said to my wife, in grief, “I’m not the man I used to be.” Then I realized the concept has multiple dimensions, and these words came to me…
Read MoreMastering Our Passions
Last Friday, I Zoomed with an editor about two book proposals her house might like. At one point, she asked about my writing goals. I said we write for either therapy or impact. Yes, they share ground, my writing changes me, but I focus on impacting people. Then I sat down Saturday to write this Unconventional post, one scheduled for several months. A divine coincidence, perhaps? 😊
Back then, I ran across this quote by St. Dominic, “A man who governs his passions is master of his world. We must either command them or be enslaved by them. It is better to be…”
Read MoreBBQ and Divine Appointments
About a month ago, after worship at our church and lunch at Lucy’s Mexican Café, Sheila and I headed to a local winery and relaxed at a patio table. A few moments later a woman, mid 20s, sat down at the next table with a plate of BBQ piled high on a bun. Even after eating, my mouth began to water at the aroma and sight. “Excuse me, ma’am, but you’re torturing me. That smells and looks so good!”
She replied with a smile, “Would you like a taste?”
I…
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